[VenusMisty]

Certain sites give physical descriptions for the types, such as INFP is XYZ...Can you tell someone's type by his or her appearance? How valid could this be? The one site I can think of that does this is Socionics. A lot of people doubt it's validity, and I'm one of them. What are Socionic's strengths and weaknesses? How can its creators look at a picture of Madonna or Tommy Lee Jones and "know" that either one is ESTP?

[Haruhi Suzumiya]

Certain sites give physical descriptions for the types, such as INFP is XYZ...Can you tell someone's type by his or her appearance? How valid could this be? The one site I can think of that does this is Socionics. A lot of people doubt it's validity, and I'm one of them. What are Socionic's strengths and weaknesses? How can its creators look at a picture of Madonna or Tommy Lee Jones and "know" that either one is ESTP?

Physical characteristics correlated with personality traits based on surveys, etc.

[Grey]

There may be certain motivations that lead people to shape their physical appearances - for example, in the Enneagram, it may be correlated that a man who builds muscle so he can impress his friends and the 'ladies' would be a Three. There's not a lot of validity, however, as you've pointed out; it's all relative, and it all depends on motivation, which is often not expressed or explored thoroughly enough.

[Alice in Wonderland]

I don't know . . . I don't see how they could. I mean some people seem to be able to type based on peoples eyes so *shrugs* but just in apperance I find hard to believe. I mean is MBTI that genetic that people with big noses are more likely to be ENFJs or something? It seems pretty ridiculous. The reason that they claim they can know Madonna's and Tommy Lee Jones' personality types is because they are famous star personalities and have watched them interact many number of times. To claim just telling type by someones apperance seems bogus to me.

[Iapetus]

I have posted an extensive description of a method where you can determine temperament based on body-type. Body Type Explains Temperament

On my personal website I have a section I am slowly developing with the body-types of various public personalities. Sometimes, I use up to five pictures to get the best possible results.

Here are a few of the people I have assessed so far:

Obama
Sarah Palin
Rush Limbaugh
Angelina Jolie
Brad Pitt
Jennifer Aniston
Johnny Depp
Steve Jobs
Bill Gates
Oprah Winfrey
Muhammad Ali
Hillary Clinton

I am currently working on; Frank Sinatra, John Kennedy, Marylin Monroe, Michael Jordan

[roxtehproxy]

An ectomorphic misanthropist with a large shelf of books would instantly be classified as an INTP/INTJ type 5